Mid-Coast Bays with the Grays Shellie Gray

CAPT. SHELLIE GRAY May and June gave us plentiful rainfall along the middle coast. All bays benefit from local runoff and river inflows to help balance salinity and it certainly looks as though the rains came just in wandered into the area where he first found them and the bite shuts down. This can be a real headache if it happens on a day when it took hours to find steady action…only to lose it shortly thereafter. Surf fishing has really turned on in the Port O’Connor area but it is not uncommon to have to travel a good distance east or west of Pass MID-COAST BAYS With the Grays Port O'Connor time, given that winter and early-spring Cavallo to find a good bite. Keying on feeding birds, active bait, and

Seadrift were uncharacteristically dry. The entire pelicans – diving or just sitting on the sand – can point the way. Speckled ecosystem thrives when salinity runs in trout can be found feeding between the first and second guts with the moderate range and this is especially redfish hanging out in the first gut next to the shoreline. Soft plastics and important this year, following the topwaters have both been effective and I definitely recommend a short Captain Shellie Gray was born in Port Lavaca and has been guiding in the Seadrift/Port February freeze. Calmer winds in July open lots of length of 20-pound leader to guard against aggressive, toothy critters you are likely to encounter out there. O’Connor area full time for the doors for coastal anglers. We are now If you are wading the surf I recommend a long stringer such as past 18 years. Shellie specializes able to pick and choose areas to fish ForEverlast’s 15-foot G2 Pro Stringer. Do not tie it to yourself or your in wading for trout and redfish without worry of nasty, gusting winds belt…just in case a shark decides to grab it. A better method is to slip year round with artificial lures. that can make boating unsafe and churn the spike into the sheath on your wade belt so it can pop free easily in an the water to muddy foam. Not only emergency. And don’t even think of wading the surf without protective Telephone 361-785-6708 do the winds tend to be calm but the direction will be primarily southeast. The footwear. There are lots of stingrays in the surf and I personally never leave my boat without my ForEverlast Ray Guard Wading Boots. Tall Email possibility of a summer storm would neoprene wading socks help prevent chafing of ankles and calves. If bayrats@tisd.net probably be the only exception, and the “full boot” is not your preference, ForEverlast also makes Ray Guard Website www.bayrat.com Facebook even then for a relatively short time. Shoreline bottom composition in Shields that fit over any wading bootie. If fishing the surf isn’t your thing, look to the mid-bay reefs in San @captsgaryandshelliegray West Matagorda, Espiritu Santo and San Antonio Bay. We have made some very respectable catches out there in Antonio bays is mostly hard sand with recent weeks. It often requires some “reef hopping” to find steady action patches of grass and deeper guts that are great for wade-fishing. San but I can assure you it is worth the hunt. Always take a few minutes to

Antonio Bay also has some of the best producing mid-bay oyster reefs. verify bait presence before deciding to fish any of the multitude of reefs

Fish will migrate to mid-bay reefs this time of year seeking not only a out there. Birds wheeling and diving are another great clue but not good food source but also deeper, cooler water. Summer breezes help always a guarantee you’ll be stepping into steady action from fat specks. keep the water in these less-protected areas more aerated. In our neck of the woods, gulls and terns working right over the reefs are

As of late, wading deep or anchoring on dropoffs adjacent to deeper usually reliable. Farther away from the reef can often mean smaller trout, water have been the key to catching. I am not a huge fan of wading more ladyfish, and gafftop. than waist deep but that seems to be what it takes to get into a solid I don’t think I have to remind you that July is one of our hottest months bite lately. Holding steady when you find a decent bite is imperative to of the year, so getting a very early start in the morning can make a huge staying in the fish. I watch too many anglers unknowingly walk forward difference between catching or just going fishing! as they reel in a fish. After catching a few the angler has inadvertently

Jeff Marshall tricked this flounder with a Bass Assassin 4-inch Sea Shad.

Marina Marshall doing what she does best - catching and releasing big fish.

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